Italian American Experience

A Century of Antifascism in Italy and America, 1922-2022

Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Fifty Years of Commentary and Controversy

Tuesday, March 29, 6:30 p.m.
The Enduring Mythos of The Godfather After 50 Years
Stanislao Pugliese, Professor of History, Hofstra University

Tuesday, April 12, 6:30 p.m.
Coppola’s Cinematic Artistry in The Godfather, Parts I and II
Rodney F. Hill, Associate Professor of Radio, Television, Film, Hofstra University

Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m.
Deconstructing Dagotude: Rereading “The Godfather Trilogy” by Confronting the Aporias
Through Which Coppola Constructs the Italian American Master Narrative ̶ With Emphasis on The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone
Pellegrino D’Acierno, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, Hofstra University

Location for all events:
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus

For more information and to RSVP, visit events.hofstra.edu or email hofculctr@hofstra.edu.

An American Tragedy:
Remembering the Saga of Sacco and Vanzetti

Marc Blitzstein’s Opera Sacco and Vanzetti

Tuesday, October 26, 6:30 p.m.
In-person Film Screening:  SACCO AND VANZETTI
The tragedy and execution of anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1920-27) came to symbolize the bigotry and intolerance directed at immigrants and dissenters in America. A century later, the story continues to have great resonance, as America once again grapples with issues of civil liberties and the rights of immigrants.

Introduction by Peter Miller, Director
Discussion facilitated by Stanislao Pugliese, Lecture Series Director
Professor of History and Queensboro Unico Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies, Hofstra University

Location: Leo A Guthart Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor
South Campus

This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Huntington Arts Council.  Support has also come from The Puffin Foundation and The Prof. Edgar H. Lehrman Memorial Foundation for Ethics, Religion, Science and the Arts. 

The Italian American Experience Lecture Series is supported in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators, Cav. Josephine Maietta, President and the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association

For more information and to RSVP, visit events.hofstra.edu or email hofculctr@hofstra.edu.

Thursday, February 18, 6:30 p.m.
Whaddyacall the Wind? Comesichiamail Vento?
With Author and performance Artist Annie Lanzillotto

Annie Lanzillotto reads new works – creative nonfiction and poetry yielded from a sojourn in southern Italy. The art of yelling, Pulcinella, the secret to why laundry doesn’t drip on your head in Napoli, alleyways, and accordions, how a New Yorker learns to walk on the San Pietrini, standing on the spot at the Madonina where Grandma left the motherland, finding the gay community in the paese, gaps in the family tree – an LGBTQ Perspective, a meditation on women who sell wind to sailors. Lanzillotto bunks heads with time, journeying through the heel of the boot where she meets ancestors, gravediggers, grape growers, a saint who sees ecstasies in stirring fava beans, and a lady in red walking a long hot road of figs, olive trees, and stone walls. Lanzillotto asks of the coin-op parking meter: Does an hour cost a quarter, or does it cost you your life? Some clocks can’t be re-set. Bronx street metaphors abound.

Tuesday, March 16, 2:30 p.m.
Visual Presentation: An American Integration into Italy Through Painting
Naples and the Amalfi Coast - the Horizons and Colors of Identity with Artist William Papaleo

New York-born artist, William Papaleo has spent the last 35 years living and painting the beauty of Naples and Southern Italy and has given attention to the new wave of immigrants and their voyage and integration into Italian society. He will present his paintings and his personal history – from his father Joseph Papaleo's writing of the Italian American experience to the development of his own paintings and his interviews with the new immigrants coming to Italy. Southern Italy's complexity as a land of myth, landscape, struggle, and transformation will be explored through his painting.

Tuesday, April 13, 6:30 p.m.
Film Screening and Commentary:
"Arrangiarsi (Pizza...and the Art of Living)"
with Director Matteo Troncone

Join us for a screening of Matteo Troncone's love letter to Naples from olive oil to street artists, to the making of his eight-years-long project. This inspiring film combines a healthy smattering of foodie passion, little-known Italian history, and quirky Neapolitans to tell the tale of one man's journey to find himself...and his search for the "greatest pizza on earth."

A Q&A discussion will follow the film screening.
"The movie's energy, ebullience, vivid scenery, and pizza porn keep us watching. — The Los Angeles Times

Tuesday, February 11
The Alchemy of Italy

What is it about Italy? Cultural superpower yet merely a mountainous Mediterranean peninsula, Italy has exerted an outsized force in the world, Western civilization, and the popular imagination over the course of the millennia. Explore the special alchemy of Italy and the “cultural DNA” that has made Italy not only influential, but also so beloved. An inspiring lecture in which you will discover fascinating insights about the “Boot’s” long history of substance over size.

Tuesday, March 10
Leading Ladies of the Renaissance

Discover the lives and legacies of Italy's “Renaissance Women” and those of several unheralded women who inspired some of the greatest artwork of all time. An uplifting and illuminating program examining the evolution of the perceptions of women from Roman and Medieval times through the Renaissance, the inflection point when our concept of today’s modern woman began to take shape. You will discover the stories of women such as Isabella D’Este, Vittoria Colonna, and Artemisia Gentileschi whose lives and accomplishments still inspire us today while you also gain fresh perspectives on some of the Renaissance’s most beloved artists and paintings. 

In recognition of International Women’s Month.

ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE LECTURE SERIES
presents
LOOK AGAIN: Old and New Films in Italian Studies 

Tuesday, September 24, 7 p.m.
Film Screening: Assunta Spina (1915)
Live musical score performed by John T. LaBarbera, guitar, and Susan Aquila, violin
A silent black and white film classic from Naples, based on the play by Salvatore DiGiacomo, starring the queen and diva of the Italian silent cinema, Francesca Bertini. The operatic tale of love and sacrifice in working-class, turn-of-the-century Naples is considered one of the first films of Italian neorealism. Bertini’s performance sets a new standard for Italian cinema. The new musical film score created by LaBarbera creates an intimate atmosphere by keeping an accompaniment of emotions found in the melodic themes of the characters in a leitmotif style that highlights the melodramatic and picturesque style of the film.
Presented in collaboration with Hofstra University Professor Rodney Hill’s History of Film class. 

Thursday, October 24, 7 p.m.
Film Screening: War Cellar
Directed by Giovanni Pugliese, writer, producer
Set in Rome during the end of World War II, an American soldier and an Italian woman must find a way to trust one another to survive. A German attack on the city forces a wounded American soldier to seek shelter in a cellar. There, he realizes that he is not alone. He is accompanied by Lucrezia, an Italian woman in her early 30s, who happens to be the daughter of the king of Italy. Both have one thing in common: The guilt that is bearing on their souls. 

Wednesday, November 20, 7 p.m. 
Film Screening: Il Signor Jackson
Directed by Anton Evangelista, Comprehensive Films
Award-winning filmmaker Anton Evangelista travels from the Bronx to Perugia, Italy, in presenting the documentary Il Signor Jackson. It is the unique American story of Edward Jackson, an African American man raised in a predominantly Italian American Bronx neighborhood in the 1950s. Jackson went on to become an educator in the New York City Public School system and prominent cultural figure of Italian biculturalism and bilingualism.

The Italian American Lecture Series is supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

Location for all events: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

For more information, please call the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669 or visit hofstra.edu/culture.

Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.
Advance registration is requested.

Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

Tuesday, March 26, 7 p.m.
Italian Literature in the United States

This presentation is based on research that led to the book Un biculturalismo negato: la letteratura “italiana” negli Stati Uniti (Franco Cesati Editore, 2018). Anthony J. Tamburri examines five writers who live in the United States and write prose and poetry in Italian. Questions posed include: Where does “Italian” end and “Italian American” begin? What are the issues raised by language? What relationship exists between literature in Italian written in Italy and literature in Italian written elsewhere?

Speaker:
Anthony J. Tamburri
Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
Queens College, CUNY
Distinguished Professor of European Languages and Literatures

Thursday, April 18, 7 p.m.
Angels in the Flesh

Lynne Lawner will discuss “the splendors and miseries” of Renaissance Italian courtesans, major figures in the cultural and social life of the era, above all in Rome and Venice. Muses and models for great writers and artists were noted for their own poetry, musical talent, and conversation.

Speaker:
Lynne Lawner
Independent Scholar
Author, Lives of the Courtesans: Portraits of the Renaissance and Harlequin on the Moon: Commedia dell’Arte and the Visual Arts
Editor of Antonio Gramsci’s Letters From Prison

Tuesday, April 23, 7 p.m.
Delirious Naples

Dr. Stanislao Pugliese discusses his new book, Delirious Naples: A Cultural History of the City of the Sun, based on the Hofstra Cultural Center conference held in 2011. The book, edited with Dr. Pellegrino D’Acierno, boasts two dozen essays by leading scholars, writers, and artists. The lecture includes images of Naples and a discussion focusing on the renaissance of the city and its relationship with New York City. Special guest speaker, Massimiliano Verde, will discuss international promotion and teaching the Neapolitan language and cultural heritage.

Speaker:
Dr. Stanislao Pugliese, professor of History, Queensboro Unico, and distinguished professor of Italian and Italian American Studies
Hofstra University
Massimiliano Verde, president, Accademia Napoletana

Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.

Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

ITALIAN-AMERICAN WOMEN, POLITICS, AND RECENT IMMIGRATION

Tuesday, October 23, 7 p.m.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and Monument
Speaker: Dr. Mary Anne Trasciatti, associate professor, Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric
Hofstra University
Director, Superstorm Sandy Oral History Project
Long Beach, NY
President, The Triangle Factory Fire Coalition Inc.

Thursday, November 1, 7 p.m.
Monuments, Memory, and the Italian-American Community:
Columbus, Italo Balbo, and Beyond
Events in Charlottesville, Virginia, have reignited a long-standing debate over how the past should be remembered in public spaces. Italian Americans have a responsibility to participate in the larger national conversation about how to remember their history and experiences in the United States. Professor Fraser Ottanelli will explore the relationship between memory, identity, and politics by focusing the debate surrounding statues of Christopher Columbus and the ancient Roman column commemorating the 1933 transatlantic flight of fascist aviator Italo Balbo in Chicago.

Speaker:  Fraser Ottanelli
University of South Florida

Tuesday, November 13, 7 p.m.
New Italian Migrations to the United States From 1945 to Present
The presentation will highlight the two-volume collection, New Italian Migrations to the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2017), which offers a radical rethinking of the history of Italian Americans. The books’ editors will discuss how the continual immigration from Italy over the past 70 years has influenced immigration laws, impacted local communities, contributed to consumer culture, and continues to reboot Italian American and U.S. culture in unfolding ways.

Speakers: Laura E. Ruberto
Berkeley City College
Joseph Sciorra
Queens College, CUNY

The Italian American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

Location for all lectures, unless otherwise noted: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.

Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

Bread, Roses, and Fire: Italian American Women at Home and Abroad

Tuesday, February 27, 7 p.m.

A film screening of Brooklyn Roses by Christine Noschese. Professor Christine Noschese is an Emmy Award-winning writer, director, and producer of both narrative and documentary films. In Brooklyn Roses, Professor Noschese blends documentary and fiction to reexamine her childhood and her mother’s feminist struggles in 1950s and ’60s working-class Brooklyn. The film had its world premiere at the 2017 Fic Autor (Author’s International Film Festival) in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, where it was awarded best documentary feature.

Read more about Brooklyn Roses

Speaker:  Christine Noschese, associate professor, Department of Radio, Television, Film, Hofstra University

Room 211 Breslin Hall, South Campus

Tuesday, March 13, 7 p.m. – POSTPONED
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and Monument

Speaker:  Dr. Mary Anne Trasciatti, associate professor and chair, Department of Writing Studies and Rhetoric, Hofstra University
Director, Superstorm Sandy Oral History Project, Long Beach, NY
President, The Triangle Factory Fire Coalition Inc.

Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

Tuesday, April 3, 7 p.m.
When the War Came to Pulcherini: Italian Americans and the Italian Campaign, 1943-1945

Speaker:  Dr. Angela Danzi
Professor Emerita of Sociology, Farmingdale State College, SUNY
Author, From Home to Hospital: Jewish and Italian American Women and Childbirth, 1920-1940

Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

The Italian American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators and the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association.

Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.

Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

Celebrates the publication of
THE ROUTLEDGE HISTORY OF ITALIAN AMERICANS

Edited by William J. Connell and Stanislao G. Pugliese

The Routledge History of Italian Americans is a new, multi-authored history of one of the largest ethnic groups in America. Concentrating on themes ranging from immigration to religion, and labor rights to women’s rights, this collection reflects the field of Italian American studies as it exists now and brings out aspects of Italian American culture that make this ethnic group one of the most interesting in the American experience.

Tuesday, October 31, 7 p.m.
Italian American Studies After 50 Years
Speaker: Dr. Salvatore LaGumina
Professor Emeritus of History,
Nassau Community College, SUNY

Tuesday, November 14, 7 p.m.
Why Italian Americans Need a New History
Speaker: Dr. William J. Connell
Professor of History and Joseph and Geraldine LaMotta Chair in Italian Studies
Seton Hall University

Tuesday, November 21, 7 p.m.
The Future of Our Past
Speaker: Dr. Stanislao G. Pugliese, professor of History and Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies
Hofstra University  

Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is requested.

Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

FROM ELLIS ISLAND TO YANKEE STADIUM:
ITALIAN AMERICAN IMMIGRATION,FAMILIES, AND SPORT

Tuesday, March 7, 7 p.m.
DiDonato and Puzo Classics: La Famiglia, From Cities to Suburbs

Tuesday, April 4, 7 p.m.
Generations: From Immigrant to Second, Third, Fourth — and Beyond "Salad Bowl" to "Melting Pot"

Tuesday, May 2, 7 p.m.
How the "Low" People Moved Up: Sports as Pathways to Wealth, Celebrity (Respect?)

Speaker for all three lectures: Michael D'Innocenzo, distinguished professor emeritus, Hofstra University.

Professor D'Innocenzo was named the Eugene Asher National Distinguished Teacher by the American Historical Association in 2008. Growing up in an immigrant enclave (13 people sharing his home), he went on to attend Columbia University and was named a Danforth Scholar and an Edward John Noble Leadership Fellow. He came to Hofstra in 1960 and developed the University's first course on immigration history, which led to the book American Immigration and Ethnicity: "Melting Pot" or "Salad Bowl"? (which he co-edited).

Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

Presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT:
ITALY AND AMERICA IN FILM, MEMOIR, AND ACTIVISM

Tuesday, October 25, 7 p.m.
Author and Activist: The Daniela Gioseffi Story

A docudrama portraying a life-affirming struggle to make art of civil rights, democratic equality, and climate justice by prize-winning filmmaker, Anton Evangelista. Daniela Gioseffi, a pioneer of Italian American culture, recipient of an American Book Award, and author of 16 books of prose and poetry. Her career as a journalist in Selma, AL, during the civil rights movement. She was among the first to integrate Deep South TV and was abused by the KKK for her activism. Ms. Gioseffi’s immigrant father, an inventor in the electronics industry, inspired her tenacity. As a poor, hardworking young man, her father was among the first Italian immigrants to win a Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Psi from Union College.

Speakers: Daniela Gioseffi, writer, and Anton Evangelista, filmmaker, www.authorandactivist.com

Tuesday, November 1, 7 p.m.
Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in the Italian Cinema

BlaxploItalian is a documentary that uncovers the careers of a population of entertainers seldom heard from before: Black actors in Italian cinema. BlaxploItalian cleverly discloses the personal struggles classic Afro-Italian and African diasporic actors faced, correlating it with the contemporary actors who work diligently to find respectable and significant roles. More than an unveiling of history, it is a call to action for increased diversity and esteem in international cinema.

Speaker: Fred Kuwornu, writer and director

Tuesday, December 6, 7 p.m.
Journey to the Heart’s Waters  

“Louisa Calio’s Journey to the Heart Waters is a searing personal work of eternal return and transformation. Calio sets out on a quest that unites southern Italy and east Africa through the image and bodies of the black madonnas who encourage her to seek, to question, to love, to grieve, to revel, and to dance. These poems are a profoundly poignant and well-earned liberation from all that is oppressive in the modern world.”—Stanislao Pugliese

Speakers:  Louisa Calio, author; Gaetano Cipolla, publisher; Nino Provenzano, poet

THREE DOCUMENTARIES
ON
HISTORY, CRAFTSMANSHIP, AND CONTEMPORARY ITALY

Tuesday, February 23, 7 p.m.
The Peasant and the Priest

The story of two elderly men whose ways of life have survived from medieval Italy. Sergio, a sharecropper, uses ancient farming methods that have become overshadowed by corporate agriculture, and Father Oreste Benzi, a Roman Catholic priest, fights the tide of sexual slavery. Both represent ways of life that are rapidly fading as the modern world closes in. The point of departure for exploring their parallel lives is the 14th century fresco, The Allegory of Good and Bad Government, by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.

Speaker: Esther Podemski, producer and director

Tuesday, March 1, 7 p.m.
My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes

Directed by Oren Jacoby and narrated by Isabella Rossellini

With Robert Loggia as the voice of Gino Bartali

The story of how World War II bicycling idol Gino Bartali, physician Giovanni Borromeo, and other Italians worked with Jewish leaders and high-ranking officials of the Catholic Church, risking their lives by defying the Nazis to save thousands of Italy’s Jews.

Speaker: Stanislao G. Pugliese, Professor of History, Queensboro UNICO Distinguished Professor of Italian and Italian American Studies, Hofstra University

Tuesday, March 15, 7 p.m.
Men of the Cloth: Three Master Tailors - A Vanishing Craft

Directed by Vicki Vasilopoulos

This film offers an inspiring portrait of three Italian master tailors who confront the decline of the apprentice system as they navigate their challenging roles in the twilight of their careers. The film unravels the mystery of their artistry and reveals how their passionate devotion to their Old World craft is akin to a religion.

Speaker: Vicki Vasilopoulos, director

Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

The Italian American Experience Lecture Series is presented by the Hofstra Cultural Center and supported, in part, by the Association of Italian American Educators.

Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association and the Association of Italian American Educator, Cav. Josephine Maietta, president.

All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Advance registration is required.

Reservations will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please contact the Hofstra Cultural Center at 516-463-5669.

FALL 2015
HOFSTRA CELEBRATES SINATRA

Thursday, November 12, 4 p.m.
“Racism, Civil Rights, and Israel” focuses on Sinatra as a champion of civil rights and a staunch supporter of Israel. There will also be a screening of 1945’s The House I Live In, a short film opposing anti-Semitism, starring Sinatra.

Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m.
The Great American Songbook: Past, Present and Future is a panel that features musician, record producer, and songwriter David Finck; musical director, pianist, and arranger Tedd Firth; Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Jane Monheit; and Debbi Whiting, president of My Ideal Music.

Wednesday, November 18, 4 p.m.
“Lessons Learned From Sinatra” is a lecture and master class with radio personality Mark Simone.

Wednesday, November 18, 8 p.m.
Will Friedwald, music critic and author of Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer’s Art, presents “Sinatra: The Television Factor,” with an introduction by Robert Foster, executive director of the Hoboken Historical Museum.

Thursday, November 19, 4 p.m.
“Frank Sinatra and Italian American Culture” features University of Vermont Professor John Gennari; Joe Scognamillo and Sal Scognamillo of Patsy’s Restaurant in New York City; author Mark Rotella; and scholar Rocco Marinaccio.

Thursday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.
“Assessing Frank Sinatra” features celebrity journalist Sandy Kenyon, music critic and author Will Friedwald, Sinatra biographer James Kaplan, radio host Ron Forman, and Bronx Opera Company Artistic Director Michael Spierman.

Sunday, November 22, 7 p.m.
The Peter B. Clark Memorial Scholarship Fund Concert Sinatra
Past, Present, and Future

Legendary Guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli
WILL NOT BE PERFORMING
(due to health reasons)
with guest artist, the legendary jazz guitarist extraordinaire, Rick Stone
featuring the
Hofstra Jazz Ensemble
Hofstra Vocal Jazz Quartet
and the
Sinatra Future Singers

(A free master class and open rehearsal with Rick Stone will be given at
4 p.m. prior to the evening performance. Interaction is limited to Hofstra students only.)

This performance takes place at the Helene Fortunoff Theater.
Tickets are $10, $8 for adult over 65 or non-Hofstra students with ID.
This event is sold out.

ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES
Divertimenti: From a Female Renaissance Painter to Soccer in War-Torn Palermo to the Recipes of Italian American South Brooklyn

Tuesday, March 10, 7 p.m.
Sofonisba Anguissola: Neglected Renaissance Female Painter
Speakers:
Louis Barrella, NYC Department of Education; Louis Leonini, St. John’s University; Snjezana Smodlaka, Rutgers University

Recognized by Michelangelo, Sofonisba Anguissola became a court painter for King Philip II of Spain and lady-in-waiting to the king’s third wife, Elisabeth of Valois. This presentation explores Sofonisba Anguissola’s expertise as an artist, as well as her intelligence, determination, and independent spirit. Historical perspectives and a connection to Verdi’s Don Carlo round out this diverse presentation of art, music, history, culture, and real-life escapades.

Tuesday, April 21, 7 p.m.
The Macaroni’s in the Basement: Stories and Recipes, South Brooklyn 1947
Speaker:
Fran Claro, independent author

You can almost smell the aroma of roasting garlic and hear the laughter of the nonnas punctuating their daily conversations about the truly important things in life – family, faith, and the best way to prepare roast pork! Fran Claro serves up a savory slice of Americana, complete with mouth-watering recipes straight from the nonnas of Brooklyn. The Macaroni’s in the Basement is a treat for the soul and for the taste buds.

Tuesday, April 28, 7 p.m.
Life Is a Great Game
Speaker:         
Salvatore Cottone, independent author

A work of historical fiction based on an actual soccer match that occurred near Palermo on July 10, 1943, the same day the Allied forces invaded Sicily during World War II – based on a story retold by the only player still alive among both teams. Many factual details are included on subjects ranging from ancient mythology, art history, and literature, to the sociological bases and consequences of emigration across many decades of the Sicilian experience. 

Location for all lectures: Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Axinn Library

ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES
New Books on Italian Americana

Luigi Bianco, chief carver of Mount Rushmore (1933-1940)

Speaker: Douglas Gladstone
The author speaks about his book, Carving a Niche for Himself:
The Untold Story of Luigi Del Bianco (Bordighera Books, 2014) and
the Italian immigrant's largely forgotten role in creating the monument.
Tuesday, September 16, 7 p.m.

Orange Peels and Cobblestones

Speaker: Rose Marie Calicchio Dunphy, independent author
In her debut novel, Orange Peels and Cobblestones (2013) the author
follows Marietta, "who from her early childhood days in Italy to her life as a
young wife and mother in Brooklyn… is haunted by hard questions from her past."
Tuesday, October 7, 7 p.m.

The Kennedy Assassination and Organized Crime

Speaker: Stefano Vaccara, Lehman College/CUNY, editor in chief, La Voce di New York
Over 50 years after the assassination of JFK questions linger as to the identity
of his assassin. The author delves into the alleged role of the reputed New Orleans
organized crime boss in his book, Carlos Marcello: The Man Behind the JFK Assassination (Enigma Books, 2013)
Tuesday, October 14, 7 p.m.

Tweeting Da Vinci

Speaker: Ann Pizzorusso is a geologist-naturalist whose first book uses the Renaissance genius to explore Italy’s underground secrets that have confounded people since the dawn of time: from the gateway to the underworld to the stairway to heaven and the gems described by Dante in the Divine Comedy.
Wednesday, November 19, 11:30 a.m.

Clash of Civilizations in Italy

Speaker: Amara Lakhous, author, Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio, examines the theme of identity through the descriptions of idiosyncrasies in multicultural Italy by way of a story of a murder in Rome.
Tuesday, December 2, 9:30 a.m.

ITALIAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE SERIES
The Italian American Past: The Personal and the Political

Waiting for Yesterday

A revealing picture of Parenti's early years as a youth in New York's East Harlem, along with some of the influences that helped shape his lifelong commitment to activism and social justice.

Speaker: Michael Parenti, political scientist, historian, and cultural critic
Author, Waiting for Yesterday: Pages from a Street Kid's Life, 2013

Date: Tuesday, February 11

ETHNICITY AND MULTICULTURALISM IN CONTEMPORARY ITALY

Film Viewings led by Italian Ghanaian Filmmaker Fred Kuwornu

Fred Kuwornu, film director and activist, will present two of his acclaimed documentaries and conduct a question and answer session after each screening.

Date: Wednesday, February 12

Finding the Motherlode: Italian Immigrants in California

Through stories set in seven Italian communities throughout California, this film examines how economic and social mobility became possible for many Italians in the Golden State. It is also a look at how immigrant identity is maintained and transformed as immigrants become assimilated into mainstream America.

Speakers: Gianfrano Norelli and Suma Kurien, directors

Date: Tuesday, March 11

Umberto E

Award-winning filmmaker Anton Evangelista's heartwarming documentary about the epic story of Umberto Evangelista, a dynamic and charming 90-year-old Italian immigrant.

Speaker: Anton Evangelista, filmmaker and director

Date: Tuesday, April 1

Time and location for all lectures:
7 p.m.
Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater
Joan and Donald E. Axinn Library, First Floor, South Campus

Admission: Free

Hofstra University gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Long Island Regional Chapter of the Italian American Studies Association (www.italianamerican studies.net) and the Association of Italian American Educators, Cav. Josephine Maietta, President.